Justice Conflict
by Onimiman
Summary: Ten years after the Yuuzhan Vong War ended, Mara Jade Skywalker comes into contact with the man who nearly ruined her life, the treacherous Yuuzhan Vong known as Nom Anor; ties in with Of the Forgotten and Deadpool & Onimi.
1. Chapter 1

Star Wars: Justice Conflict

39 ABY

Luke, Mara, and Ben Skywalker were all taking a vacation on the planet Marfa. Specifically, they were touring one of the many flea markets across the world, just another regular family among many millions of other families throughout the galaxy. Of course, Luke and Mara were pretty famous considering their history as heroes of the New Republic and the Galactic Alliance following the Empire's fall, the course of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, and, most recently, the Dark Nest Crisis. But out here, on an obscure world like Marfa, which was even more obscure than Luke's home world of Tatooine, the Skywalkers blended in perfectly into the background of the flea market.

The Skywalkers stopped at a nearby vendor to get some food. Mara's attention wandered away for the moment, and all of a sudden, she spotted a strangely familiar human male out in the throngs of people milling about. Consciously, Mara knew she never saw this man in her life, but deep down, she knew she had encounters with this individual that she didn't care about. Her suspicions regarding the man's identity peaked when he saw her looking at him, and almost subtly, he turned away from her direction and began heading the opposite way. Her curiosity about his nature was also peaked when she realized that she couldn't get a read of him through the Force.

_It can't be_, Mara thought. _Weren't they all_–

"Mara?" Luke asked as he placed his natural hand on his wife's shoulder, gently turning her around. "What's wrong?"

"Excuse me, Luke," she replied. "Stay here with Ben. I have to go look into something." She said that last part as she turned away.

"Why can't we come, Mom?" Ben asked before he took a bite from the nerfsteak Luke bought for him from the vendor.

Mara turned her head back to look down at her son. "Listen, Ben, I know this may seem confusing right now, but I have to do this myself." And with that, she looked straight ahead at where the man was walking away, his form still visible among the walking crowds, and she, too, began heading that direction.

After Mara was out of earshot, Luke looked down at his son as he took another bite from the nerfsteak and said to Ben, "We have to follow your mother."

Ben swallowed his chewed chunk of the steak. "But Mom said we have to stay here-"

"Yes, yes, I know, Ben," Luke said. "But sometimes, your mother isn't always right."

"Are you always right, Dad?" Ben asked, taking another bite.

Luke again looked down at Ben. "There's no time for that," he replied. "Come on." And with that, they discreetly followed Mara.

Meanwhile, Mara herself was steadily gaining ground on the mysterious man, who had, as of a few minutes earlier, had abandoned subtlety in his efforts at elusion; he was constantly looking behind him and made desperate attempts at losing her by trying to use the crowds to his advantage. Regardless, though she did lose him from her sight from time to time, Mara never let the man out of her sight for more than a few seconds after she negotiated her way through the crowds.

Eventually, the man, knowing that he wasn't going to lose Mara through such a clever tactic, decided to abandon even the little discretion he had within the flea market and started to flat-out run. He wasn't below pushing people out of his way, nor was it ever beneath him when he had seriously injured those who were elderly or very young. But even with that, Mara still didn't lose him.

In the midst of the chase, the strange man ducked into an alley, but then realized to his shock that it was a dead end with no ladders leading up to the building's roof, nor was there a closed manhole for him to escape in the sewers. So, with no choice left, he turned back to the opening of the alley and faced Mara, who had just arrived at the entrance.

"Who are you?" she asked.

Without answering her question, the man charged for her. But Mara kicked her boot into the man's chest and sent him flying back a meter to the ground. She approached him as he rolled up off his shoulder and stood his ground as Mara closed in on him.

When she neared him, the man lashed out with his right hand, which Mara easily grabbed, but when she tried to twist it, he managed to escape her grasp and use his other hand to punch up her jaw. She stumbled back a few steps, and the man took advantage for her stunned form to tackle her to the ground.

Once Mara was on her back, the man crawled up off of her and made a dash for the exit. But Mara rolled on to her stomach and used the Force to hurl a nearby garbage disposal unit into the man's side. He stumbled and crashed into the wall behind him, and just after he pushed himself off, Mara was already on her feet and charging for him. He ducked beneath her right cross, grabbed her forearm, and flipped her over onto her back.

But Mara flipped back and both her boots crashed into the man's mouth. He flew back another meter, landing on his back once more, as Mara gracefully landed in a crouch on both feet. She turned in one swift pivot, stood up, and once again, she almost casually walked over to the downed man. The latter, looking desperate, as Mara observed the fear in his eyes, looked around him and saw a dull blade at his side, its handle still intact. So he grabbed the blade and flung it at Mara, who easily ducked beneath, but it still gave the man enough time to leap to his feet and kick at Mara's knee.

The latter had quickly lifted her leg off the ground so the man didn't kick his intended target, and used the same leg to kneel him in the groin. The man fell to his knees, and in no time at all for her, Mara had won the fight.

"Mara!" Luke called from the entrance of the alley.

Mara turned away from the man to see Luke and Ben approach her, and they stood at her side as she looked down at the man nursing the pain in his crotch.

"Who is he, Mom?" Ben asked.

"I don't know, sweetie," she said as she bent down to the man she defeated. "But I think we're about to find out." Then she reached up to his face and pinched the side of his nose.

And just like that, his skin peeled away until it revealed the features of a Yuuzhan Vong of the Intendant caste.

It was Nom Anor.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The _Jade Shadow_, having left Marfa a few hours earlier, was now travelling back to Coruscant via hyperspace. With Nom Anor tied up in the _Shadow_'s guestroom, Luke had already contacted the authorities on Coruscant to let them know who they were taking back with them. After all the crimes he committed during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion more than ten years earlier, Nom Anor was going to stand trial as soon as he touched down on what his people once ruled over as Yuuzhan'tar.

In the meantime, Mara decided that she was going to confront the man who nearly ruined her life all those years ago. She opened the door to the guest cabin and walked in, stern-faced. Nom Anor looked up from his feet in despair, his poison-spitting plaeryin bol extracted from his empty eye socket so that it could do no harm, and his expression was no different as soon as he saw Mara.

After the door sealed shut behind her, she walked over to his tied form and looked down at him in what amounted to controlled anger on Mara's part. The first thing she said to him was, "Did you really think you could spend the rest of your days on Marfa in peace? After all you've done?"

"Yes," Nom Anor replied in an apathetic tone. His continued dour expression betrayed his voice.

Mara slapped Nom Anor across the face as a result of his insolence. "Men like you don't get to have such a luxurious retirement," she spat. "At least not until they've paid through the teeth first. And that's assuming that they'll be able to survive such punishment."

Nom Anor reeled back from the slap and stared back at Mara hard with his one eye. "You don't think I have paid through the teeth already, Mara Jade?" he asked in contempt. "My entire life has been nothing more than acquiescing to the likes of Warmaster Tsavong Lah, High Prefect Drathul, Supreme Overlord Shimrra..." He trailed off as his eye looked to the floor in sadness again. "And Onimi." Onimi was the true Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong, as Nom Anor discovered at the conclusion of the Battle of Yuuzhan'tar, the final battle of the Yuuzhan Vong War, ten years before. It still pained him to this day to know that his entire species' civilization has been following the whims of a deranged Shamed One ever since Quoreal–Shimrra's predecessor on the throne–had been put to death. "I helped you and your people reclaim Coruscant, as a result of what happened at Ebaq 9 more than ten years ago! Couldn't you just leave me alone for once?"

By the look on her face, Mara obviously didn't sympathize with Nom Anor one bit, nor did she believe that he ever go through any suitable punishment to balance out the horrors of his crimes. Such as infecting her with coomb spores, which nearly ended her life, as well as almost robbing her of any chance of ever having a child–almost robbing her of the chance to conceive Ben with Luke.

She leaned down to get closer to him. "Do you have any idea what you've put me through?" she nearly yelled. "Or for that matter, the Jedi Order? The New Republic? You've condoned the actions that have killed many friends and allies of my family and I, including my nephew, Anakin Solo. You don't even have the conscience to comprehend the enormity of what your actions have done; how many worlds, how many _lives_, were lost because you helped your kind to a cause you didn't even believe in! The grief you've put us all through..." Mara's teeth were clenched and her closed fists were shaking. She was just barely controlling herself from strangling Nom Anor to death. After a moment, she calmed down, breathed in and out a few times, and relaxed herself before saying, "You have no idea how merciful I'm being right now. If I had it my way, I'd simply use this lightsaber–" she indicated the Jedi weapon hanging on her belt "–to send your head rolling to the opposite corner of this cabin right now and then vac both pieces of your body into the nearest star. As it is, I'm to properly fulfill my duties as a Jedi Master in bringing you to justice for your crimes and letting those with better judgment be the ones who determine your fate." It irked Mara that she remembered saying something fairly similar to Nom Anor ten years earlier after she spared his life in the decrepit ruins of a building during the Battle of Yuuzhan'tar.

Through the strength and conviction of Mara's words, Nom Anor still had the audacity to smirk, even after all these years. "And what if my sentence is to go back to Marfa in peace?" he asked, his smirk sustained. "Hmm? What if I'm simply to be exiled right back there? You know, I wonder, wouldn't you and your husband be the ones who would suffer the consequences of _kidnapping_ me? _Hmm_?"

Mara's nostrils flared. But this time, she restrained herself from any further assault on Nom Anor. Instead, she asked, "How did you survive the explosion aboard Onimi's ship?"

Nom Anor's smirk grew wider as he tilted his head to the side. "Only a god worth my species' worship could survive an explosion like that, Skywalker," he said as if scolding a child for doing something mildly harmful to another. Mara had to breath deeply again to calm just the minor irritation that the Yuuzhan Vong's tone had inflamed within her. His tone did grow more business-like–at least as close to it as he could, considering his circumstances–as he explained, "Before I attempted to lead the Solo family to their doom in a garbage chute aboard that vessel, as they must have no doubt told you, I had noticed a second yorik-trema–the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of one of your escape pods–nearby the one that the Solos eventually took, after Jacen deduced through his 'Vongsense' my attempted treachery.

"To this day, I still have no idea why there were two yorik-tremas aboard that vessel, rather than the usual one for the Supreme Overlord," Nom Anor went on, "but an estimation of mine was that Onimi must've manipulated Shimrra to have another yorik-trema installed for himself. Anyway, after I told the Solos that I'd rather die with Onimi than ever live to see the dawn of the postwar galaxy, I launched them out into space and rushed to the second yorik-trema to escape. I made it just in time, but the blast radius sent the yorik-trema spiralling down towards Coruscant where it crashed in one of the planet's outskirts.

"For several weeks," Nom Anor continued, "as Warmaster Nas Choka and the remnants of his mighty fleet collected what remained of the Yuuzhan Vong, both on and off Coruscant, to be shipped away to the Unknown Regions via Zonama Sekot, I struggled to survive through the isolated surface conflicts, perpetrated by renegade Yuuzhan Vong commanders, that littered the planet. My persistence was rewarded, however, when I managed to find an ooglith masquer amongst the debris of the ravaged Coruscant, and I disguised myself as a human soldier within the Galactic Alliance. Despite the efforts of both your people and Nas Choka's loyal forces in collecting nearly every living Yuuzhan Vong throughout the galaxy, I successfully smuggled myself off of Coruscant, slipped away from the military, and I eventually ended up on Marfa as a businessman."

"And now here you are," Mara said when Nom Anor concluded his explanation.

"Yes, here I am now, thanks to you," Nom Anor replied in seething contempt.

Again, Mara leaned down to Nom Anor to look him straight in the eye so that he knew she was serious. "You're not going to get out of here this time, Nom Anor," Mara said. "This time, you _will_ get your just desserts."

Nom Anor sneered. "We'll see. As I said, I did help the Galactic Alliance overthrow Shimrra–and Onimi, for that matter–through the _Jeedai_ heresy I inflamed as Yu'shaa the Prophet. A pardon for my actions throughout the earlier stages of my species' invasion of your galaxy doesn't seem too unlikely for me."

Mara leaned in closer yet. "I wouldn't be so confident of that little fact if I were you," she replied, her voice barely a whisper. "So I'd suggest that you'd prepare for the worst if it comes to that."

Without another word, she turned around and headed for the door. It opened before her, and after she stepped through the threshold, she turned around and just stared back at Nom Anor; she, staring with controlled anger;, he, staring at her with his continued smirk, despite what Mara just said to him. The only similarities between them, it dawned on Mara as the door closed before her, was that they were both staring at each other in contempt.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Three days later, after the _Jade Shadow_ returned to Coruscant, Nom Anor's trial took place. The harsh prosecutor's job was fairly easy in listing off Nom Anor's crimes during the Yuuzhan Vong War and depicting him as a monster–figuratively, notwithstanding his monstrous appearance–was just as easy. His lawyer obviously had a much harder time in trying to play him sympathetically, especially since his species was that of a violent race that had conquered much of the galaxy more than a decade earlier. The fact that Nom Anor's lawyer also happened to be Ithorian raised a lot of eyebrows–or other equivalents, if there were, among other members of the jury and participating crowd–but nevertheless, the Ithorian lawyer did bring up a lot of good points about his defendant. Helping the Galactic Alliance overthrow Supreme Overlord Shimrra was one of the highlight's of the Ithorian's defence.

_Somehow_, Mara thought among the crowd with her husband, son, and the Solos, _I know that defence just isn't going to bode well for Nom Anor, just like I predicted. Good riddance then._

In the end, the jury did indeed carry out Nom Anor's verdict as guilty. _Figures_, Mara thought. _Now it's just up to the judge to determine what his actual sentence is_.

The judge, a female Caamasi named Qwes B'etra, banged her mallet and said, "Nom Anor, your war crimes during your species' invasion of this galaxy more than ten years ago were horrendous, without question. However, your actions were under the now-defunct laws of the late Yuuzhan Vong Empire, as many of your kind have acted upon. You have also been essential in building upon the so-called Jedi heresy among what were once your outcasts, the Shamed Ones, which had culminated in assisting the Galactic Alliance in overthrowing the hierarchy with Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane's death. Since those who followed under the orders of the Supreme Overlord and your other masters, like you, have been shipped off to the living world of Zonama Sekot, combined with the undeniable fact that you were instrumental in defeating Shimrra, you shall receive no more of a severe punishment than those of your peers. Therefore, I sentence you to be taken by the Jedi into the Unknown Regions and spend the rest of your days on Zonama Sekot when it is found."

Heated conversation broke out in response to the judge's decision. She banged her mallet again to bring order back into the court, and the room quieted down fairly quickly. Once all conversation ceased, B'etra continued, "The sentence is final." She banged her mallet again to make the statement official.

Mara sighed in disappointment over Nom Anor's sentence. Neither she nor any of her other family members, whether her own or the Solos, joined in the ruckus that followed B'etra's decision on Nom Anor's fate. Still, even though it didn't seem fair, she'll voice that opinion to the rest of her family, just as they will, later on in the upcoming annual family get-together in a month or so.

Suddenly, her danger sense flickered, and so did the danger senses of Luke, Leia, Jaina, Jacen, Zekk (who was still part of Jaina's life since their time with the Killiks), and even Ben. Their heads all turned to a nearby window, and Han noticed, so he also looked in the same direction.

And there they noticed. A lone Bothan in militaristic uniform was prone on top of a nearby window, as Zekk, the Skywalkers, and Solos all saw, armed with a DC-15 rifle, targeting somewhere within the courtroom. Quickly, without noticing whether or not any of her family caught the location of the target before she did, she saw that the target was Nom Anor.

Even in spite of her utter hatred for him, for all that he did to her and others during the Yuuzhan Vong War, she bounced right out of her seat and soared through Force-enhanced strength right beside Nom Anor. In no time, she had her lightsaber out, and for a split second, the crowd was in shock, with nearly everyone there believing that she was going to kill him for what he did. But when the laser bolt from the DC-15 broke through the transparisteel of the window, the lightsaber blade sent it right back to its origin point. It blasted the barrel of the rifle right off, stunning the Bothan on the rooftop.

When everyone else in the courtroom looked at where the bolt first came from, they all saw the Bothan through the transparisteel. The Bothan, recovering from the impact the destruction of his rifle had brought upon, noticed that his mission failed, leapt up to his feet, turned around, and ran off.

Just seconds later, before Mara could even bring herself to look at Nom Anor in his one, speeders showed up floating next to all the other windows, including the one that the sniper tried to shoot the Yuuzhan Vong defendant through. Other Bothans in similar uniforms as the sniper shot down the transparisteel windows, prompting a fleeting panic among the crowd as they hurried desperately for the exits. B'etra and the prosecutor were promptly, but formally, escorted out by security as Mara reactivated her lightsaber and the other Jedi did the same. They all leapt into action, including Han, who took out his own classic blaster and prepared for battle.

As the Bothans landed in the courtroom, Luke, Leia, Jaina, Jacen, Zekk, and Ben–despite his young age–all engaged the militaristic Bothans in combat by deflecting the shots that their enemies shot at them right back into their guns, destroying them. The Bothans took out their backup weapons–small-arms and vibroblades–but those were also promptly dispatched by the Jedi, and the Bothans were knocked unconscious thanks to their opponents' combat skills. Han, his blaster set to stun, helped out substantially by knocking down more than half a dozen Bothans while the Jedi were busy with their own opposites.

But while some of the Bothans were very much concentrated on the Jedi and Han, Mara found herself defending the one person she never hoped to ever help out in any way in her life–Nom Anor. Many of the Bothans who weren't engaging Han, Zekk, and the Jedi of both the Skywalker and Solo clans decided to go for Nom Anor. But Mara was deflecting many of the bolts right back into her opponents' rifles, though some got past her. However, none of them ever hit the cowering Nom Anor behind her or his lawyer, who both decided to make a break for the relative safety of the back of the judge's stand. A few shots nearly grazed the terrified Yuuzhan Vong and his Ithorian counterpart before they made it to the stand, and hid beneath it.

Mara, seeing where the objects of her defence decided to hide, bounded from the defendant's stand right in front of the judge's stand. Still more ricocheted bolts bounded from her lightsaber blade back into the rifles of the Bothans. Soon, all of their rifles were destroyed, and they decided to engage Mara with their backup weapons. Those with the holdout blasters had their weapons dispatched just like their rifles, and those with vibroblades were cut down by the more powerful lightsaber. Mara knocked down a dozen Bothans unconscious before she found herself with no more enemies in front of her.

However, she noticed a few more Bothans approaching from the sides of the judge's stand, hoping that they could kill the cowering Nom Anor hiding there. So Mara leapt over the stand and deflected bolts from both sides back into the rifles again, and easily knocked unconscious each and every Bothan who came at her, not giving one a single chance to kill Nom Anor, before she found herself with no more enemies for sure this time.

Then she turned around and looked down in what nearly amounted for pity for her as she saw the pathetic site of Nom Anor and his Ithorian attorney cowering together like that.

Even though Nom Anor had freely admitted to her during the Battle of Yuuzhan'tar that he was nothing more than a coward, she still had in mind, _And I thought the Yuuzhan Vong were a fearless bunch_.

~o~

Following the battle in the courtroom, the authorities showed up and arrested all of the Bothans, who were just waking up from what the Jedi and Han Solo delivered to knock them out. Prior to the police's arrival though, everyone remaining the courtroom had noted that the insignia's on the sides of each Bothan's uniform was that of the True Victory Party.

It was no wonder that they decided to attack the courtroom, with the aim of killing Nom Anor. About eleven years earlier, before the Battle of Ebaq 9 that would have prompted Nom Anor to join the Jedi heresy, every Bothan had declared ar'krai, a state of total war, against the Yuuzhan Vong for the death of New Republic Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya, who was himself a Bothan. The Bothans had the intent of wiping out the Yuuzhan Vong to the last individual, just as they had done a few other times in the past. However, ever since the end of the war, ar'krai had no longer been supported by the Galactic Alliance, who had agreed for the Yuuzhan Vong to be shipped off to the Unknown Regions via Zonama Sekot. Even though many Bothans, including former Galactic Alliance Supreme Commander Traest Kre'fey, had decided to forgo pursuing ar'krai any further, fanatical members of the species, such as those who tried to kill Nom Anor in the courtroom, wouldn't stop until the entire Yuuzhan Vong species was rendered extinct.

Ironically, even though Mara herself had no interest in exterminating the Vong now that they were pretty much powerless on Zonama Sekot, she sympathized more with the True Victory Party than anyone else, with the Jedi aside. She even felt _regret_ for actually stopping the Bothans from assassinating Nom Anor. Yet, as a Jedi, she knew that allowing her emotions to get in the way would ultimately lead her down the path of the dark side of the Force again.

Mara still didn't like it though. And she liked it even less when, after the Bothans had been arrested, she had to look Nom Anor in his one eye again and watch him smirk at her. Because she had saved him, and he knows just how much this pained her.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Because of the True Victory Party's attack at Nom Anor's trial, the latter had been discreetly transported to the Jedi Temple itself for safety. There, Chief of State Cal Omas himself assigned Mara and Tahiri Veila to take Nom Anor into the Unknown Regions and drop him off on Zonama Sekot. Luke couldn't come because of his duties of coordinating many Jedi activities–his recent vacation with his wife and son on Marfa notwithstanding–which left Mara, a responsible Jedi Master, and Tahiri Veila, one of two Jedi Knights aware of Zonama Sekot's current location. Tekli was the second Knight, but due to her duties as medical healer and Jedi Master Cilghal's assistant, she couldn't come. Nevertheless, Omas decided it acceptable for two Jedi to transport Nom Anor to the living planet currently inhabited by Yuuzhan Vong and Ferroans alike.

So, once again, Nom Anor was tied to a chair in the guest cabin of the _Jade Shadow_ before Mara, with Tahiri as a competent copilot, started up the ship's drives and took out of the _Shadow_'s current docking bay for space.

Little did they know they wouldn't be alone in this journey.

~o~

After several days of travelling through hyperspace in various sectors within the Unknown Regions, under Tahiri's directions, the _Jade Shadow_ finally found Zonama Sekot in all of its beautiful green glory.

But as Mara began to apply the subspace drives to start heading for the living world, the _Jade Shadow_'s alarms cut in.

"What is it, Tahiri?" Mara asked urgently.

Tahiri checked the sensors and quickly reported, "It's a Bothan Assault Cruiser!"

Mara made a sidelong glance at Tahiri before checking the sensors herself. "How does a Bothan Assault Cruiser manage to track us all the way out here without our knowing of a tracking beacon on my ship?" Without waiting for Tahiri to answer the rhetorical question, she opened a channel to the Cruiser. "Unidentified Bothan Assault Cruiser, this is Jedi Master Mara Jade Skywalker, captain of the _Jade Shadow_. Please state your intentions." Mara already knew why the Cruiser was here, but she just wanted to make sure.

Immediately, a reply from the Cruiser came in via a rough and gruff voice of a typical Bothan male. "Master Skywalker," the voice said, "this is Captain Trusk Fey'lya of the _Pride of Bothawui_."

_Oh, great,_ Mara thought. _A relative of Borsk Fey'lya himself. No point in persuading this one to back off. Guess we're just gonna have to do this the hard way, I suppose._

"Please surrender Nom Anor to us, and we will spare you," Captain Fey'lya continued. "Afterwards, you will leave here, or you will be destroyed."

"Captain, as much as I'd love to give you Nom Anor, I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Mara said. "Nor can I let you attack Zonama Sekot just to exterminate the Yuuzhan Vong."

"Your ship can do very little against the _Pride of Bothawui_, Master Skywalker," Fey'lya said. "And besides, why would you of all people want to protect the Yuuzhan Vong?"

"I don't care much about the Vong myself, Captain Fey'lya," Mara said, noting the look of disdain from Tahiri's face at referring to the Yuuzhan Vong simply as _Vong_, which, in the species' culture, was considered an insult. It still pained Mara to think what kind of torture she must've gone through under the torturous and cruel hands of the late Vong Master Shaper Mezhan Kwaad, which made Tahiri believe she was an actual Yuuzhan Vong warrior at one point. "But," Mara continued to Fey'lya, "I also can't allow you, in all good conscience, to attack Zonama Sekot just to allow the True Victory Party its fulfilment of ar'krai."

"Again, what could you do to us even if you did have a good reason for defending the Vong, Master Skywalker?" Fey'lya asked.

"Well, I couldn't do anything by myself, I'll be the first to admit," Mara said as she watched organic-looking ships rise up from Zonama Sekot's atmosphere. "But with backup... Well, anything's possible, Captain."

Even during the Battle of Yuuzhan'tar, Zonama Sekot's home grown ships, appropriately titled seedships since they were made of living seeds that would be struck by lightning to take on the form of space-worthy vessels, had always fought only in self-defence. They literally wouldn't attack unless they were attacked first, which, as Mara noted, bore a distinct similarity to that of the Chiss Ascendancy's war policy prior to the Dark Nest Crisis. But ever since the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War, Zonama Sekot has learned the value of preemptive striking, and would attacked if it was aware that it was threatened.

So that was why the seedships simply flew in towards the _Pride of Bothawui_, easily dodging the shots fired upon them by the Bothan Assault Cruiser, and began making strafing runs across the behemoth vessel. The _Jade Shadow_ joined in on the attack against the _Bothawui_, making a few successful runs that lowered the Assault Cruiser's shields considerably with the help of the seedships. Several weapons emplacements across the massive ship's hull had been destroyed thanks to the _Shadow_ and her seedship partners.

But then the _Pride of Bothawui_ suddenly launched an unidentifiable missile towards Zonama Sekot. Immediately, the _Jade Shadow_ and several seedships turned tail and raced after the missile, and the _Shadow_ began firing lasers on the way to destroy the unknown projectile.

_Wait_, Mara heard a voice in her head say. She remembered it belonging to Vergere, the late Jedi Master who held Jacen Solo prisoner on Vong-captured Coruscant for nearly a year before helping him back to the New Republic in its last days preceding Ebaq 9. But Mara knew on an intuitive level that it wasn't Vergere herself speaking from the Netherworld of the Force, but Zonama Sekot herself, who has on more than one occasion taken the form of a younger Vergere on more than one occasion.

_Stop firing_, Vergere's voice continued. Mara also noticed that Tahiri was also hearing the voice in her mind, as well as glanced at the sensors to see that neither of the seedships with her were making any attempt to destroy the missile fired by the _Pride of Bothawui_.

Which meant that if this missile were destroyed, it would catastrophic for all of Zonama Sekot.

But why?

So Mara stopped shooting lasers at the missile, as Sekot told her to, and decided to activate the tractor beam after making a gliding stop. The _Jade Shadow_ suffered an immense jump forward after the tractor beam caught the missile, but both the ship and the projectile it was keeping from the living planet were still.

~o~

Eventually, after several more minutes of trying to blow the seedships to atoms, the _Pride of Bothawui_ lost all of its turbolasers to the smaller ships' fire. And since Captain Fey'lya didn't have the foresight to bring any starfighters of his own, such as X-wings, he really had no choice but to surrender to the seedships.

The missile itself turned out to be a carrier of a concentrated sample of the Alpha Red biovirus, as Mara and Tahiri inspected it using the sensors. Zonama Sekot must have known intuitively that the missile carried Alpha Red, which was a biovirus developed by former New Republic and Galactic Alliance Intelligence leader Dif Scaur and his cohorts of Chiss scientists meant to wipe out the Yuuzhan Vong. Even though Cal Omas said that every sample of Alpha Red had been destroyed after the Yuuzhan Vong War ended, apparently, as Mara and Tahiri observed, the Bothans still managed to get their hands on a sample.

_And who knows how many more samples of Alpha Red could still be out there, never mind being in the hands of the True Victory Party_, Mara thought. It would definitely be something she would have to look up.

But first, it was time to deliver Nom Anor.

On the surface, the _Jade Shadow_ landed in the same landing field it did when it first made contact with the living planet more than a decade earlier. Mara and Tahiri went back to the guest cabin, where Mara untied Nom Anor and Tahiri bound the stun cuffs behind his back to make sure he wouldn't get away. Once all that was settled, they walked outside the ship, and were immediately greeted by a green-robed Danni Quee.

Danni was a scientist who originally worked as a member of the Extragalactic Society, or ExGal for short, on the planet Belkaden by the time the Yuuzhan Vong decided to invade the galaxy. She was captured and tortured as one of their first test subjects. She was later saved by Jacen Solo, and for much of the war, she was a scientific consultant for the New Republic against the Yuuzhan Vong, and was more often than not in more battles against the Vong than she cared to admit. In the war's final months, she had joined the Skywalkers, Jacen, Saba Sebatyne, and Tekli in their search for Zonama Sekot. Danni was initially sceptical about the planet's existence, considering the mythology behind it all, but ever since she landed, the planet pretty much became her life. Its natural richness, beauty, and its undeniably titanic presence in the Force drew Danni to quit the life of a would-be Jedi when Luke made himself Grand Master of the Order and called for all Jedi to devote their lives to that destiny or retire it.

But this wasn't the same Danni now. Here, she was powerful in the Force, more powerful than she had ever been when she was barely training under the likes of Mara or Saba. And she certainly didn't have that same presence in the Force either.

"Danni?" Mara asked. "Is that you?"

"The one who speaks to you now, Master Skywalker, is not Danni Quee," the person with Danni's body said. "It is I, Sekot. The previous Magister of Zonama, Jabitha Hal, has passed away due to natural causes. Danni's intuition in the Force drew me to her as its next Magister. Her interest in Zonama's ecology rivalled that of her Force potential, and she accepted my request because it would allow her to know more about me than she could ever know by scientific analysis alone."

"I see," Mara said, without knowing what else to say on that matter. "Well, Sekot, we have a Yuuzhan Vong who managed to escape the roundup that preceded your return to the Unknown Regions. And I think you might be familiar with this one."

After a moment of Danni studying Nom Anor, Sekot said, "Ah, yes, I am indeed familiar with this one. He tried to sabotage my hyperdrives in an attempt to destroy me for the good graces of his masters." Without changing tone, she said, "Yes, I will take him."

Mara, Tahiri, and even Nom Anor all raised their eyebrows at this. "That's it?" Tahiri asked. "Even after what he almost did to you, and what he did to Nen Yim?"

"As we all know, this particular Yuuzhan Vong had been acting of his own interests," Sekot said. "So if he does indeed still care about his own welfare, then he will know that this is the safest haven for him in the galaxy. And he also knows that if he does make another attempt to kill me, he will not succeed, and will suffer severely for it. Am I correct that he is aware of this?"

Nom Anor swallowed in fear, and shook his head, backing it up with a weak, "Yes."

"Of course I am," Sekot said in a conversational manner. "So, as good as it is to once again grace me with your presences, Master Skywalker and Jedi Veila, you may take your leave of the Unknown Regions and leave Nom Anor within my care."

As Tahiri unbound Nom Anor's shackles, Mara asked, "And what of the Bothan Assault Cruiser and her crew?"

"I'm afraid if I am responsible for refitting their ship, their return to known space can very well endanger me and all of my citizens," Sekot said. "So, unless you want to risk potential danger for the Yuuzhan Vong, the Ferroans, and every other living being that I hold like a child, I can't allow the Bothans to leave."

"So you're going to allow them to come to you?" Mara asked.

"I will station this particular group of Bothans within territories uninhabited by Yuuzhan Vong," Sekot said. "They will only interact with Ferroans and other living beings, but they will have to sat there so as to avoid confrontation with those they seek to eradicate."

"I don't think this'll bode well back home," Tahiri said.

"These Bothans have decided to take upon action that wasn't sanctioned by the galactic government," Sekot said. "I'm sure they'll understand."

"No doubt about that," Mara said. "But I fear this is just going to inflame the True Victory Party's goal even further."

"Well, as long as there are no further Yuuzhan Vong still remaining elsewhere in the galaxy that need to be delivered unto me, the True Victory Party won't be able to find me," Sekot said.

"Sure, but you will still be holding Galactic Alliance citizens against their will," Tahiri noted.

"And what could the Galactic Alliance do, unless it wanted to jeopardize my safety?" Sekot asked.

Mara sighed with Tahiri. "Boy, this is really going to be a pain back home, I can tell," she said.

"I'm sure you'll be more than capable in handling such troubles," Sekot assured her.

"Well, we first have to find the tracking beacon that the Bothans placed on us, get rid of it, and we'll be on our way out of here," Mara said.

"Goodbye," Sekot said. Then she took Nom Anor by the arm and turned him to the direction of the Yuuzhan Vong village less than a mile away.

Two minutes later, after Mara and Tahiri searched the outer hull of the _Shadow_, they eventually found a strange leathery object stuck to the hull. Mara took it off and as she observed it in her hand, Tahiri asked, "What is it, Master Skywalker?"

"It's a piece of taozin skin," Mara said. "It's from a creature that can hide one's presence from the Force. They were thought to be extinct for a long time now. First Alpha Red, now this? Where're the Bothans getting all this stuff?"

"You think we'll have to do a little investigating when we get back to the Galactic Alliance, Master?" Tahiri asked.

"My thoughts exactly, Tahiri," Mara said. She then pealed the taozin skin off to reveal the tracking beacon that the Bothans somehow placed on the _Shadow_. The two Jedi women then climbed back aboard the ship as Mara deposited the beacon and skin in her pocket.

A few minutes later, the _Jade Shadow_ was back in space, and Mara and Tahiri were able to see several seedships usher escape pods from the _Pride of Bothawui_ down onto Zonama's surface. Once they were well clear of Zonama's atmosphere, Mara, putting the ship on autopilot for the while, went back to the airlock with the taozin skin and tracking beacon in hand. After she put both objects in and the airlock was sealed shut from the inside, she manually opened the outer door of the airlock so that the two objects flew on a trajectory for the sun of Zonama Sekot's home system. Afterwards, Mara went back to the pilot's chair, retook control of her ship, and began setting in the hyperspace coordinates.

"You don't think it's fair, do you?" Tahiri asked.

"About what?" Mara asked.

"About Nom Anor," Tahiri said. "You think he's gonna have it easy, and it'll probably be just the same as he got on Marfa, if not better."

Mara looked at the other Jedi. "Do you think he will?"

Tahiri smiled. "Trust me," she said. "I highly doubt it."

Then the _Shadow_ jumped into hyperspace, leaving Zonama Sekot behind.

~o~

Back on Zonama Sekot, as soon as Nom Anor and Danni entered the Yuuzhan Vong village, it wasn't long before nearly every Vong noticed Nom Anor's entrance. Those of the Shamed Ones–Sekot told Nom Anor that they were now called the Extolled on their walk over to the village–immediately crowded around him and Danni, and they chanted his name as "Yu'shaa the Prophet."

And this time, as Nom Anor looked at the crowd of ugly, distorted faces and bodies, he truly did feel good for what he did for them.

But then Nom Anor looked over the crowd of the Extolled, and noticed a few of members of the defunct warrior caste stare at him in hatred from afar. Nom Anor tensed up slightly, and then Sekot said to his ear, "Defend yourself against all those who come against you. But never go against them first."

Nom Anor looked at Danni before she turned and walked away, the Extolled before her as one worthy of worship as Yu'shaa, their savior himself.

Then the most recent addition of the Yuuzhan Vong on Zonama Sekot turned back to look above the ugly but thankful faces of the Extolled, and continued to stare back at the former warriors. Eventually, after a moment, those former warriors turned around and walked away.

But he knew it wouldn't be as easy as that. Like Sekot, he will defend himself.

It was just like being back in the previous Yuuzhan Vong society. He will have to fight just to survive.

And survive, he did, in that previous society. And so will he in this one.


End file.
